Reviews

A marvellous, funny, moving, and very theatrical version of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story.  For many people, Yentl is a story made famous by Barbra Streisand’s 1983 movie – which, by the way, Bashevis Singer hated.  That movie’s simpler feminist message, its pretence of the reconciliation of opposites, and the heroine’s escape to the holy land (i.e., America) was Streisand’s Hollywood version for her time.  

The classic Jane Austen story comes to life in a new, homegrown Australian musical. Composer Daniel Hernandez and Director/Writer Sharmini Kumar have captured the essence of the Regency period of the late 1700's - set in South West England, London and Essex - that millions of Austen fans have come to love so dearly.  

‘Everyone is dead and there’s nothing left but chickpeas’ sobs the last surviving woman on the planet, who has been alone in a bunker for a very long time. She makes a daily broadcast to the unknown – sharing her musings on the world: how it got to this apocalyptic event, debating how much of her science knowledge was derived from Star Trek, and surviving on tins of the beige  legumes. Alone, that is, until she involves us, the audience, in curating her bunker-cast.

Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody has had a difficult debut in Adelaide. Cancelled a number of times due to COVID issues, it triumphantly opened in the last week of the Fringe and what an opening it was!

It centres on a central character who is looking for his/her own true love. This is accomplished with the help of his/her Hairy Godmother, a vision in pink with a multitude of surprises under her voluminous skirt.